Peonies - Knowledgebase Question

Your peonies are still babies! Give them some time. Peonies are a very long lived plant and should give you years, and years of wonderful blooms once they get "rolling". This may be the year they begin. To expect flowers much before the thirdyear is a bit unrealistic.

However, having said that, one of the most common problems, causing lack of bloom, is planting them too deeply. The buds on the roots should not be deeper than 2-3 inches below the surface of the soil.

Yearly maintenance is as simple as a shovelful of compost shaken down over each clump in the spring with perhaps some wood ashes dusted on every few years. They also will need some support in order to hold up those marvelous flowers. You can find round stakes made specifically for peonies, or you can set stakes into the ground and run some twine around the branches before they get too large in the spring. There is so much foliage, they will soon be hidden from view. Remember to water them well in the late autumn so the roots can get a good start in the spring.